Korea traditional dance

Tonight the nurse at the school took me to see Korean Traditional dancing and a band playing traditional instruments. It was really beautiful and I forgot my camera. It was an interesting afternoon. After we left school we went to pick up her son at kindergarten. I saw what a Korean kindergarten looks like. It's kind of like an American one but in a nice cozy house decked out with a lot of creative home made toys. The parents helped to make the toys like dolls and stuffed animals that are at the school. Her youngest son is cute but very talkative and you can tell he's the youngest. He tried to annoy me but I gave him a look that said "don't mess with me kid" and he left me alone. We walked around a park and then met her eldest son back at her house where she cooked. Her house is big to me since I live in a small place and she has an OVEN sigh !!!After dinner we went to the theater to see the dancers. We were a little late and had to wait to go in. The show was great and I am kicking myself I didn't bring my camera. I will try and find some videos to do the dancers and performers justice. I think the highlight were the dancers who played the ( I'm going to call them drums till I find their Korean names) and performers who played instruments and had hats on. A couple of the hats looked like a fishing pole with one of those rhythmic gymnasts ribbon on the end, but the top part itself moved when they moved their head so they were spinning around and the hat was spinning and the ribbon was swirling it was nice. Then this one guy came out and started what looked like break dancing almost on the floor wile this ribbon was swirling around him. The women who had danced so beautifully before came out in these pretty bright dresses and played the drums beautifully it was really amazing. I was glad I was able to go to this show. I hope one day you get to experience what I did.

Now anyone can leave comments

Hi everyone who's reading please leave comments so that this blogging experience can be more interactive. I hear folks are having trouble registering to leave a message so I have set it so you do not have to register. Just click on "anonymous" and "Publish your comments" and that's it! Can't wait to read your comments!!

Chonggye Sa (Temple)

Dinner after the hike

The principal, vice principal, and other employees

Teachers sitting down for dinner

Restaurant in the style of traditional Korean house

Falls here

Comes from here

The principal and I

Coffee place on the mountain

Enjoying some tea

Ji-Hye and I under a pretty tree

The monks have ac and satellite t.v.

Statue's on the stairs

Down the stairs

Beautiful mountain view

Instruments where the Buddhists pray

Buddhas

Buddha on it's side

Used to carry people in (mostly women)

View from the temple

Ji-Hye, 1st grade teacher, me and Kyueng-Ja by the well at the temple

Making kimchi

Praying at the temple for the SAT's

Where the monks sleep

Ji-Hye in front of a part of the temple

Tombs at the Buddhist temple

Stairs to get to the temple did not climb them

Bong Hee before the hike

Funny video watch till the end

Pepero Day and teachers class

Yesterday I had another teachers class. This time we had a topic of discussion and a reading. The topic was Life styles and the meaning of happiness. It was a fun and interesting conversation. When some teachers did not know how to explain in English they would say it and the more advanced English learners would tell them how to say it, then I would correct them if they made a mistake. I've caved and am going to the mountain/ temple excursion after school tomorrow. Bong-hee is dead set on getting me to exercise and be healthy. I hope to look as good as she does when I'm in my 50's sooo I'm goin. It'll be interesting I'm sure. I'll take pictures because apparently there's a temple there or something. I think the name is Chungkei. Today was Lotte made Pepero day. It's on the 11th of November because the Pepero look like 1's. It's basically like Valentine's day you give it to your friends and people you love. Pepero is like a chocolate covered pretzel stick. I got a whole bunch from students so I guess that means I'm loved lol. It's cute and admitted pointless "holiday". The kids explained it as since the Pepero people wanted to make money and sell the Pepero they invented Pepero day. Sooo

HAPPY PEPERO DAY EVERYONE !!

Fried chicken in Korea

You have got to try fried chicken in Korea here are 2 sites about it. One site is a NY Times article with the places of some Korean style fried chicken restaurants. Hit one up and tell me what you think. Although I am a fan of Kyochon chicken( http://kyochon.com/usa/ there is one in ny). That chicken is the best to me . http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/dining/07fried.html?ex=1328504400&en=7a499fafbf603ccc&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss chicken source from the daily kimchi blog http://thedailykimchi.blogspot.com/2006/09/korean-fried-chicken-hof.html

Costco in Korea

Thursday Mrs. Park (3-1 teacher) took me with her to Costco. I didn't quite know what to expect. I was a bit scared to go because she knows very little English and she has a tendency of speaking to me in Korean so I wasn't sure how this trip was going to go. Thank goodness she picked up her daughter from school and she spoke English and was able to translate. Sooo Costco in Korea. First off it's a tall building. The actual store is 2 floors and the rest is parking. Which is kind of better than the American Costco because if you're not there early or lucky enough to take someones spot coming out you're SOL. They have moving sidewalks inside the store and there are people at each floor to help you get your cart off the moving sidewalk. On the first floor is food and the second floor has everything else ( clothes, shoes, electronics, body products etc.) The place is huge. I think bigger than the ones at home.I think each floor was the size of the one Costco back home. Most of the products are tailored to Koreans but they do have some of the same things the American Costco has ( Kirkland cranberry juice, cheese puffs, and cheeses etc.) They also had what Costco's is famous for SAMPLES !!! Some were not my taste ( blood soup) and others were. In fact I bought a product based on the sample. Since I don't have a lot of money left and I can't open a bank account till I have my ARC, I didn't spend a lot there. I got a case of Ramen and some meat. Mrs. Park offered to buy me things I need but of course I turned it down ( apparently everyone is worried about me and being strapped for cash). After we paid for our purchases she treated me to dinner. At Costco back home I don't know if they have whole pies, I know they have slices of pizza though. But anyway she got a cheese pizza and I think it came with clam chowder but I'm not sure. That was the best pizza I've had so far. It was like a New York style pizza ( I wonder if they import it) the slices were NY sized the gigantic slices as big as your head. (NYers you know what I'm talking about). She gave me a slice to take home and she dropped me off. That was my experience at the Korean Costco. I told her the next time she goes I will go with her. I hope she goes when I have money to spend cause I could do some damage there.

First teachers class and the weekend

Friday I had my first teachers training class. Not as many teachers as I was expecting but some still came so I was happy. There were about 8 teachers that stayed for the class. I made a little power point presentation about myself because a majority of the teachers did not know about me and I knew they would be curious. After my little presentation they asked me some questions and I asked them questions about themselves and family. Then we discussed what they expected to get out of the class. They said that they wanted to have discussions about different topics not really learn the "Hi, My name is ..." aspect. I was happy to hold discussions because that means that I won't have to prepare 2 much for the class. 

After work I walked to the bus stop as usual. As most of you know I'm not a runner, so I saw buses coming to the bus stop and I did not run after them. Buses come by basically every minute so I would just take the next one to come along. The next one to come along looked like my normal bus but it had a number attached. I didn't think it mattered since I was told never to take the 3 bus and that was it. Well I got on the bus and next thing I knew it turned down a street I've never been on. Opps. I got off at the first stop. I started walking back and being far from my destination I walked to the nearest bus stop. Well I started to talk to the nearest bus stop. But I got to the top of the over pass and saw the Lotte Mart (store near my home) and thought that's not too far I can walk. OMG ! I was so wrong. It was like a mile maybe. I guess everything looks closer from up high orr I'm exaggerating (which is probably more likely). I hiked it alllllll the way home. I was so tired I had to stop in front of the Lotte Mart. My ankles were hurting and so were my knees. I felt like my body was like breaking down it was horrible. NEVER WILL I DO THAT AGAIN. 

The teachers asked me to go hiking with them. I don't know if I can make it. I was about to have a heart attack just walking home with the slight inclines, how the hell am i gonna hike up an f 'in mountain? NOT ! Thank goodness Ji-hey told me we will stay at the bottom while the rest hike. Ji-Hey has a knee problem that would prevent her from hiking.

I have mastered my washing machine. I knew I would. Cycle 4 means 4 hours, 3 means 3 hours and so on. I did laundry and cooked and watched shows on MTV.com. I must say I want to be Paris Hiltons new BFF. I always thought she was nice from The Simple Life. But she's funny and sweet I could see us hanging out. Yeah I know I'm a loser but whatever. Today I went to the Pyongchon Catholic Church ( or churchie as Koreans say) with Mrs. Park (teacher at my school) and her husband. She told me to meet her outside my apartment. I thought she would be driving but alas we were hoofing it to church. I think the teachers and Korea as a country are secretly trying to get me to lose weight I tell ya. The church in theory is not that far but throw in the slight inclines, steep stairs, slight hills annnd me wearing heels and we got a bad combination folks. Since I didn't know we were walking I wore my heels, by the time I realized she wasn't driving I couldn't run back in and throw on my sneakers soooo I was stuck walking in heels. I was cool walking to the church we did it a little slowly but it was cool. Her husband speaks pretty good English so he was translating and we had a conversation on the way to church. When we got there I was like thank goodness I can sit down yay. How about the actual mass was being held on the third floor? THE THIRD FLOOR !!! I was like of course why would it be easy?. The Korean stairs of death strike again. So i finally make it to the third floor trying not to show that my heart was going to explode out of my chest and finally I get to sit down. The church was nice. I wonder why it is on the third floor and not on the first because it was not 3 stories it was like when you walk into a regular church. Also during the mass most of the women wore veils which I thought was interesting I've never seen that before. After mass as we were leaving church, this woman came up from behind me and grabbed my hand. She shook it to say hello but she scared me for a second and being from the states my first reaction after she left was to check my pockets. Walking home I think was harder. Since it was down hill I was putting more pressure on my feet and I thought I was gonna fall a few times. Unlike most Korean Women I am not used to walking around everywhere in heels. Mrs. Park invited me to her house for tea. My feet were killing me and I really didn't want to walk another step so I told them I had to get home to call my mom. Yeah that didn't work. Her husband was like call from my phone my company pays for it anyway. Soooo since I couldn't say no to that I bared the pain and walked to their house. It's amazing by the way. So much space and they have a tub and a washer and dryer. I did not get the tour but I saw enough from where I sat. I had tea and fruit and had a conversation with the husband and youngest daughter. Then they ordered lunch. Fried Chicken. YAY !! Koreans sure do like their fried chicken. I like they're fried chicken too. I don't know how they fry those bad boys but you heat it up the next day and that stuff is still crispy and I bet it's healthier for you than in America because there aren't many fat Koreans and I've seen regulars at the fried chicken places. After lunch Mrs. Park and her husband went to a Korean movie and left me with their daughters and we watched a mix of ANTM, Project Runway and The Devil Wears Prada. I walked back home ouchies. I need to get some flats to walk to church in cause these here heels are gonna kill me !!